Improvement in hoop-skirts



,UNITED STATES PATENT Orrrcn.

MARKS FISHEL, OF NEW YORK, N.Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN HOOP-SKIRTS.

Specification forming part'of Letters Patent No. 55,266, dated June 5, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MARKS FIsHEL, of the city of New York, in' the county and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Skeleton-Skirts; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to that class of skeleton-skirts in which tapes or equivalent narrow strips of material are employed to support the hoops or springs.

I have discovered that tapes and analogous f'abrics of cotton and the like material, as ordinarily woven,may be punctured and thehole gradually enlarged to a sufficient size to receive a hoop without involving difficulty by breaking the threads either of the warp or weft, and without materially impairing the durability of the fabric. I can enlarge the hole to a size somewhat greater than the hoop which it is to receive, and can line or defend i it by any suitable material-as, for example, by

an eyelet properly introduced-but I have not usually found it necessary to do so. I have determined by experiment that a skirt will endure ordinary usage for a very long period if the hoop, covered in the ordinary manner with braid or the like, is introduced and supported directly'in holes so made in the tape, and is simply prevented from slipping sidewise through the tape by a clasp or equivalent fastening. l

I will proceed to describe minutely what I consider the best means of carrying out all the parts of my invention.

The accompanying drawings form a part of this specification.

Figure lis a side view of the skirt complete. Fig. 2 is a View of the exterior of a portion on a larger scale. Fig. 3 is an edge of a portion of a tape. Fig.4E is an inside View of a portion. Figs. 5and Gareperspective views of two styles of clasps ready to be applied. Fig. 7 is the metal for a clasp. Fig. 8 is the exterior of a portion of my skirt having` lthe holes defended by eyelets.

The succeeding figures relate to the means of introducing the'hoops properly through the tapes, and will form the subject of another patent. It may be here explainedhowever.

Fig. 9 is a longitudinal section of my peculiar needle or case, which I fit temporarily on the end of the hoop. Fig.v10 is a top or edge View. Fig. 1l shows the needle.in the act of openinga passage for the hoop through the tape. These three figures show the hoop properly introduced into the needle.

Figs. l2, 13, 14, and l5 represent sections of the needle at corresponding points on Figs. 9 and l0. Fig.16 shows themetal fora needle. The metal is cut in this forinand folded subsequently. Fig. 17 is a plan View of portion of the uppermost hoop, showing the slides at the back. Y

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

A A, &c.,are ordinary tapes woven as single tapes in the ordinary manner, and are each cut of the proper length required from a roll or other long piece of such tape, without regard to the number of hoops which they are to support. y

B B are ordinary springs or hoops. They are made of flat tempered steel covered with cotton braid, with their ends joined by a clasp, as usual.

C is adevice which l term a needle/and is employed for the purpose of properly introducing the hoops through the tapes. The needle C is made of iron or steel, and may be conveniently formed by cutting good sheetiron of a thickness about one sixty-fourth of an inch, bending it around, and joining the edges by brazing. The point should be sharp, and the exterior of the needle very smooth and nicely rounded. 'Ihe other end should be flattened, as indicated, and of a size just suficient to receive the end of the hoop and to t tightly thereon.

'Io construct my skirt I mount the tapes in the ordinary manner on a suitable frame, (not represented,) so as to readily determine the point at which each hoop should cross each tape, and apply the needle successively to the end of each of the hoops, so that it may be introduced through the tapes at theproper points in advance of each hoop successively and be gently forced through by the hand, applied either to the needle or to the hoop which is inserted init. I introduce the point of the needle C at the two points b b2, as represented in Fig. l1, and the material of the tape is opened by the smoothly-tapered needle U to a.

sufficient size to admit the passage of the largest end of the needle. This large end of the needle is obviously somewhat larger than the hoop, so that the hoop can be easily moved forward after the needle has passed. I thus introduce the hoop successively through all the tapes.

I subsequently join the ends of the hoops by a clasp in the ordinary manner. I next apply clasps D, having each four legs or prongs, as indicated in Figs. 5and6. These may be made from sheet-brass and bent by machinery in the well-known manner. I apply these at the points and in the positions indicated in Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 8, and bend the legs dd together by the aid of a pair of pliers. These legs embrace the hoop alone and stand just outside of one of the edges of the tape. The other legs, d d', puncture the material of the tape A, and embrace a portion of it as well as of the hoop. The legs d d are subsequently bent together and compressed upon the hoop B. This may be done by pliers, but I prefer to effect this operation with great firmness and rapidity by the aid of claspingmachines similar to those commonly used by skirt-manufacturers.' In this position the clasps D serve not only to prevent the hoops B from slipping laterally through the tapes A, but also to prevent the edges of the latter from being folded over, and to` prevent the tape from being folded together and drawn 1into too narrow a compass.

My means of adjusting the size of the skirt are -arran ged at the back and near the top or waist, and may be employed alone or in addition to any ofthe ordinary means at the front.`

I make the waistband in two parts con nected at the back by a buckle, E, Fig. 1, by

which the size of the waist may be varied within considerable limits. A few of the up permost hoops are also made in two parts, connected at the back by slides G, of the ordinary construction, so as to maintain the rigidity of the hoops at the points of meeting and allow the hoops to be expanded and contracted independent of any arrangements at. the front. rlhis feature of my invention adapts a single skirt to lit more perfectly and becomingly on either stout or slender forms. It is necessary simply to take up or let out by the buckle and correspondingly to adjust the backs of one or more ot' the uppermost hoops to adapt the skirt to tit properly on a different woman.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim as new in skeleton-skirts, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

l. Embracing thehoopsof skirts within holes in tapes or analogous material of a single thickness, when the holes are produced without removing or cutting any of the fabric and fit around the hoops,substantiallyin the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.

2. Combining with tapes punctured by the hoops, as shown, the clasps D, embracing the hoops, and performing the double function of preventing the moving of the hoops in the tapes, and of preventing the twisting' or doubling of the tapes, as herein specified.

MARKS FISHEL. 

